CV MANIA

Described as a „summary of one's education, professional history, and job

qualifications”, prepared by an applicant for a prospective employer, the
curriculum vitae has become a compulsory issue in the preoccupations of all
contemporary professionals.
The medical reference in the title does not announce a paper focusing on
the description of some new mania-related disorder characterized by
„excitement of psychotic proportions manifested by mental and physical
hyperactivity, disorganization of behavior and elevation of mood.”
Instead it indicates an intention to observe a socio-linguistic phenomenon
that exceeds by far the condition of the fairly simple, straightforward document
presented in the definition retrieved from The American Heritage Dictionary of
the English Language.
The massive presence and the complexity of this cultural object is
signaled by the immense number of web pages returned by Google during a web
search, the frequent newspaper articles discussing various aspects of the CV, the
existence of countless recruitment agencies which invite job seekers to post their
CV’s on their sites, or the activity of the equally numerous firms urging
potential clients to rely on their ability to produce the best postmodern CV on
the market.

The Curriculum Vitae as a Cultural Object

The CV could be regarded as a cultural object designed to represent the

identity of an individual either seeking employment or displaying his or her
already achieved respectable status, as illustrated by the CV’s of various
personalities posted on Internet sites.
The CV as identity marker has become a compulsory component in the
social armamentarium of any professional. Submitted on line, this Figaro-like
factotum is supposed to play a fundamental part in the process of selection of
employees and at the same time it illustrates a trend to exhibit one’s personal life
on the Internet.
The CV is a must have document, a status symbol to be used in the
cultural game of distinction, a means to improve one’s social status, and a
consumer good fashioned by specialists and available for purchase at the right
price.
In a world in which people are viewed as products that need to market
themselves the CV plays the role of a powerful marketing tool.
Thus, the CV could be defined as a sales document that highlights the
skills, achievements and experience of an individual in such a way that the
reader is motivated to meet the author.

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 The almost ubiquitous CV earned even a place in the field of urban
legends under the guise of the „perfect curriculum vitae”, a document
supposedly concocted with such skill and intelligence that it could allow a
candidate to gain safe access to a much-desired job. Yet another component of
the urban folklore has its source in the production of CV’s: funny mistakes
collected from CVs and résumés are included and can be accessed on line in
humor sites.

Autobiographical Documents and Terminological Ambiguities

One’s personal existence can be compressed in a variety of texts which

include forms known as autobiography, memoirs, curriculum vitæ, (often
abbreviated to vita or CV), résumé (or resume), biodata, biographical sketch or
biosketch, and job application form.
The autobiography and the memoirs are characterized by the variety in the
manner of presentation and by their length; for example, Winston Churchill’s
Memoirs of the Second World War take up 1088 pages in the 1991 edition of
the book. A comparison between the former and the latter shows that the
autobiography centers around “the author's own life and experiences”, while a
memoir is “an autobiographical form of writing in which the author gives his or
her personal impressions of significant figures or events.”
Curriculum vitæ is Latin meaning "course of life" and résumé is French
meaning "summary".
In the United States, some employers use the words CV and résumé
interchangeably, when in actuality they mean one or the other. Thus, the CV is
expected to include a comprehensive listing of professional history including
every term of employment, academic credential, publication, contribution or
significant achievement while the résumé is supposed to present the candidate’s
background and qualifications in a concise manner, highlighting his or her
strengths and accomplishments in 1-2 pages.
More than that, a résumé is generally used for seeking employment in the
private sector, whereas a curriculum vitae is more often used to seek positions in
academic or educational environments.
The term curriculum vitae is used especially in the United Kingdom,
Ireland, New Zealand, French Canada and some Commonwealth countries, as
well as in many languages other than English.
In other regions of the world (such as Australia and India) CV and résumé
are used interchangeably.
In the interest of maintaining legibility in online use and in translations
between different formats of electronic media, the word résumé is sometimes
written with the letter e replacing the correct spelling using the letter é.
In South Asia the word biodata is often used instead of résumé.

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 Biodata may also refer to “a personnel measurement technique that is
useful in tapping motivational, attitudinal, and intellectual characteristics.
Personal data are collected from individuals with a systemic self-report format
in which the information is explicitly or implicitly verifiable.”
The biosketches are career summaries no longer than four pages, currently
required for key personnel proposed on a research project, i.e., specialists who
contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project. Biosketches
should emphasize the following points: (1) research skills and experiences, (2)
management or supervision experience (especially regarding key roles played on
major projects or studies), and (3) publications or paper presentations.
The job application form is a standardized document used in the
recruitment process to enable a job candidate to supply information about his or
her qualifications, skills, and experience. Employers may ask a candidate to
complete an application form instead of, or as well as, providing a CV. The
questions included in the document should be job-related and they should avoid
unjustifiable intrusion into a candidate's personal life.

CV’s or Résumés: the Basic Types

The CV is known to exist in two major formats, the American version and
the European layout.
The American CV is a comprehensive biographical statement, typically 3-
8 pages emphasizing professional qualifications and activities.
Within the European Union, a standardized CV model known as Europass
curriculum vitae has been developed in 2004 by the European Parliament and
promoted by the EU to ease skilled migration between member countries.
Europass actually consists of five documents: two documents (Europass
curriculum vitae and Europass Language Passport) that can be filled by the
candidate himself and three other documents (Europass Certificate Supplement,
Europass Diploma Supplement and Europass Mobility) which are filled in and
issued by competent organizations.
There are three different types of CV/résumé: the chronological, the
functional, and the combination CV/résumé.
A chronological CV/résumé presents a candidate's job experience in
chronological order.
The chronological format is by far the most common CV/résumé layout in
use. In using this format, the main body of the document becomes the
Professional Experience section, starting from the most recent experience going
chronologically backwards through a succession of previous experience. The
chronological type works to build credibility through experience gained, while
illustrating career growth over time.
A functional CV/résumé lists work experience and skills sorted by skill
area or job function.

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 The functional version focuses on skills that are specific to the type of
position being sought. This format directly emphasizes specific professional
capabilities and utilizes experience summaries as its primary means of
communicating professional competency. In contrast, the chronological format
will briefly highlight these competencies prior to presenting a comprehensive
timeline of career growth via reverse-chronological listing with most recent
experience listed first.
The combination CV/résumé balances the functional and chronological
approaches. A text organized this way typically begins with a functional list of
job skills, followed by a chronological list of employers.

Communicational Dimension of the CV/Résumé

The CV/résumé is a form of text-based communication. This

characteristic makes it also asynchronous, i.e., it does not require immediate
attention of the receiver, and thus it can be archived and revisited periodically.
As it is edited and reedited it lacks spontaneity.
It may be directed to a particular recipient but the use of Internet-based
job search engines practically allows more than one individual to read the
document.
The official nature of the communication precludes the use of informal
means to send it, such as the SMS.
The contents of the CV/ résumé have undergone a significant change
during the last decades: if traditionally the text was supposed to indicate what a
person has accomplished thus far, the contemporary trend is to fashion the
document towards what the person can accomplish in a particular job, and
sometimes such a document is called a targeted CV/résumé.
Another significant change is the replacement of the paper-based
document by an electronic version of the autobiographical data which can be
accessed on the web through search engines.
Job seekers must choose a file format in which to maintain their
CV/résumé. Many employers insist on receiving the text only as Microsoft
Word documents while others will accept material formatted in HTML, PDF, or
plain ASCII text.
The Internet CV/résumé differs from the conventional paper-based
versions in that they are comprehensive and allow for self-reflection. Unlike the
regular type, which only shows recent work experience and education, the
Internet CV/résumé also shows an individual’s skill development over his or her
career.
Another advantage of the electronic format, particularly appreciated by
the employers, consists in the possibility to detect with greater ease the suitable
candidates by setting search parameters in their database of CV’s/résumés to

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reduce the number of documents which must be reviewed in detail in the search
for the ideal candidate.
A fashionable type of CV/résumé favored by higher education graduates
is the video-based form which allows a job seeker to record a description of
his/her career objective, qualifications, education, and employment history and
to distribute it via the Internet using streaming media. This method of self-
advertising is encouraged by “the combination of widespread broadband Internet
usage, higher-quality video technology and increased enthusiasm for online
video sharing.”

Usefulness of the CV/Résumé

A very serious issue regarding the information included in the CV/ résumé
is the matter of lying in the hope of winning the much-desired position made
available by the employer. The experienced recruitment consultants observed
that most offenders are new graduates, who think they know more than they
actually do. By applying this method, they run the risk of being blacklisted
forever from the company that processed their correspondence.
Another problem to be considered is that concerning the efficiency of the
whole procedure: is the CV/ résumé really telling a reader who you are? Is the
information sufficient to describe the make up of a personality? Since the late
1990s, in order to give the applicants a chance to differentiate and distinguish
themselves, employers have been more accepting of texts that are longer than
two pages. Many professional CV/résumé writers and human resources
professionals believe that such a document should be long enough so that it
provides a concise, adequate, and accurate description of an applicant's
employment history and skills.
Another characteristic that could diminish the efficiency of the CV/
résumé is the doubt regarding the identity of the author; given the existence of
companies which provide writing services, in many cases, the only truly
authentic element about the candidate is the raw data, subsequently transformed
into an appealing product meant to sell the candidate.
Concerning the video CV/ résumé, many recruiters feel that a video alone
does not give an employer enough information about a candidate to make a
proper evaluation of the applicants’ skills and potential. As noted by Raghav
Singhs, “while a video resume introduces applicants on camera, the value such
visual imagery adds is debatable. A text resume allows for specific pieces of
information to be parsed out and compared across candidates. When the
information is delivered verbally, recruiters need to glean the details
themselves.”
The obvious conclusion is that a CV culture has developed, generating in
the process a huge variety of formats and using powerful means of information
dissemination and processing. The system is up and running and millions of job

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seekers benefit from its existence. Yet this highly successful operation involves
ambiguities and dangers that still need to be addressed by all the individuals
participating in the contemporary ritual of career building in the global society.